We are a Christian Network that promotes Christian books through press releases, social networking, blog showcases, and charities, including the orphans in Nepal and Wakulla Correctional.
Don't forget to check out the free books on the site - right column following book trailers.

Follow the John 3:16 Network Author Page on Pinterest

Friday, August 31, 2012

Author Sammie Chandler leads off the parade of the John 316 Marketing Network Author introductions.We hope you will enjoy getting to know our special members, make new friends and find new authors to love. While each spot will have a similiar framework, each author makes his or her spot unique.One of our goals is NetWorking, so plug in and enjoy!

The tale of Samantha Ryan Chandler's life is evocatively
portrayed in her book: A Love Story, How God Pursued Me and Found Me. It tells
of a life that is as disturbing and unsettling as it is uplifting and, in the
end, gratifying. How "A girl from Nowhere, Louisiana" finds her way
from such humble beginnings to live and walk amongst presidents and the
supremely rich, only to find her trust and faith betrayed by those that she
loved and trusted the most. She would be tested to the point where she began to
doubt her own sanity and, at the moment of her greatest desperation and doubt,
she was found by God and brought back from the brink of hopeless despair.
Blessed with an almost unquenchable optimism and a unique sense of humor, she
relates the story of a life that will speak to those who have encountered
abuse, unfairness and anguish. Her love for her children and her faith in God
carried her through a crucible of fire and in the end, made her a better,
stronger person, ready to carry on with a life that is again filled with love,
joy and laughter. A Love Story, How God Pursued Me and Found Me will both
inspire you and touch your heart.

I have an optimism about
life that defies logic for the circumstances I encounter. I also have an
uncanny memory...almost photographic

Share something not many
people know about you

Readers would not know
this as I have an extremely silly side and find humor in strange places. I love
to laugh and laugh hardily out loud somewhat like Julia Roberts, quite robust.

Describe
your personality:

I am very much an
extrovert. When I was a little girl growing up in Louisiana, my mom would worry
all the time as I would go up to strangers at gas stations and chat them up. I
have never met a stranger nor have difficulty speaking at length with people I
don’t know. This is why I am invited to many parties to keep conversation
going!

Are you a “pet person”
or prefer no pets?

I have horses that are
my passion to ride. I ride Arabians which are known in the horse world as
unstable and very skittish. That possibly is the attraction. If something is
easy to do, then I am not interested. I ride endurance which means many miles
at a time, 20-30 miles. In the past, I kept a journal of each ride and amount
of miles but stopped at 10,000 miles. At this date, I would venture to guess I
have clocked 15,000 miles in the saddle.

Would you rather travel
or stay at home?

I am a true “gypsy”
having clocked over a million air miles with one airline. While on a trip, I am
thinking ahead to the next one.

Do you read more or
write more?

Since my book has been
published, I have little time to read; but find myself writing a great deal.
There is so much work after a book hits the market than simply writing it. I
have written several articles for Southern Writers Magazine. I started my next
book last fall and wrote about a months worth but have not looked at it since.
Before I was an author, I read a great deal of the time.

Prefer cake or pie?

I prefer both!! My sweet
tooth is the size of Alabama.

Would, or do, ride a
motorcycle or prefer to ride/drive a car?

Neither, I prefer to
ride my horse fast through the woods. I find motorcycles scary.

How about taking the bus
or walking?

I love to walk. I
started exercising everyday when I was 16 and it is a lifestyle choice. I have
been known to climb stairs in buildings that have elevators. I did this once in
heels going down 22 flights of stairs. My three girls were taught at an early
age that “walking makes great legs”.

Are you part of a big
church congregation or a small church?

I am a member of First
Baptist in Atlanta with Dr. Charles Stanley as pastor. It is one of my greatest
joys to have this as my church. I have learned not be quantified knowledge of
scripture from Dr. Stanley. The church feels small but my guess is 10,000 members.

Would you describe
yourself as happy or joyful?

I am very happy and also
eternally optimistic.

Do you like to telephone
people or prefer to use e-mail?

I prefer email. I feel
at the end of the day that I have talked for hours on end.

Do you eat at home or
eat out?

I love to cook and
experiment. My favorite to make is bread and of course desserts. Growing up in
Louisiana, eating is a sport.

Listen to music or
prefer quiet?

I love to play the piano
but do not listen to music very much. I just never seem to have enough quiet
time.

Prefer sunrises or
sunsets?

I could say both but let
me break this down for the reader. If it is a sunrise, then an early command
performance is at hand to be there in time awaking early. Having raised three
girls, I have seen many a carpool sunrise. My answer now is sunsets.

Lorilyn Roberts writes, Children of Dreams, sharing the redemptive power of God
that can restore that which was lost. This inspiring true-story takes the
reader through an intriguing, triumphant journey displaying Christ’s miracle
working power through the adoption of her own “Children of Dreams.” The author
openly reveals her heart, God’s heart and God’s love and faithfulness as she
parallels the Spirit of adoption offered from our Heavenly Father with the
adoption of her two daughters from third-world countries. Coming from a place
of adoption herself, the author has written a touching story that gives
life-changing hope, unveiling that through perseverance and absolute trust and
dependence upon God, dreams and life-changing hope can be your story as well.

As the author illustrates through her testimony, God can change your tragedy
into triumph. Coming from a place of broken dreams, including rejection and
abandonment from her spouse, meant that her dreams of having a “forever family”
may never happen. As God changed her heart, he also gave her a dream…her
children were brought forth from the ends of the Earth, saved from a life of
absolute poverty and certain death; the author shares her trials as she endured
much opposition in the form of, “… lies, betrayal, sickness, delay, deceit,
deception, greed, corruption, suffering, fear, abandonment and sacrifice.”

Children of Dreams is a powerful, uplifting and inspiring word encouragement to
the Body of Christ. The author offers hope to the reader by intertwining the
truth of scripture throughout her book revealing that God can work all things
out for good to those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose.
(Rom. 8:28). If you love true stories and good endings, this book is for you.
Let the truth of this story instill love and hope, let the truth of scripture
fill your soul with inspiration, as you give yourself over to the lover of your
soul, Jesus Christ. This book will forever leave an imprint of your Heavenly
Father’s love for you upon your heart. A true delight and testimony to love
prevailing over all evil! A highly recommended read.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

From “Spice to Eternity” is one of the
most fascinating books I have read in a long time. The subtitle, Discovering the Main Ingredient to a Life of
Fulfillment and Purpose, is aptly titled. One of the senses less often thought
about in our relationship with Jesus and the heavenly Father is taste. In Spice
to Eternity—part memoir, part inspirational, part cooking, and part educational—Yvonne
Pat Wright captures this ingredient in an enjoyable journey through her life of
cooking and spiritual enlightenment.

How much do you know about spices? You
won’t look at cinnamon and cumin and dozens more spices the same way again!

Here is a “taste” of From Spice to Eternity about Vanilla from chapter
one “Incomparable Love”:

“Vanilla: What a flavor! It is probably
the most exotic of all the spices, and this is no wonder, as the vanilla beans
are the pods of the tropical orchid plant Vanilla Planifolia. Vanilla is called
‘The spice of love.’…like the long process of curing vanilla, love affairs –especially
those that endure—develop over a long time, the longer the process, the more
precious the love that ensues.”

Chapter titles include “Joy Fulfilled,” “Fiery
Trials” (guess what spice is highlighted in this chapter), “Made Brand New,” and
“He Gave His Life.”

Have you ever wondered what spice would
symbolize honor? It’s in one of the chapters I listed above.

I can’t say enough good things about
this book. On Tuesday, August 21, Yvonne
Pat Wright will be launching Spice to
Eternity on Amazon. If you purchase her book on that day, you will receive many
free eBooks/gifts. The books are a secret, but I will share one now— the John
3:16’s highly touted Taste and See book
featuring over 60 authors (533 pages). Check back here on Tuesday for the link.

About
Yvonne Pat Wright

Yvonne Pat Wright, in happy retirement,
enjoys reading, in several genres, but finds it hard to accept obscenity and
accept it as standard author’s license. A devout Christian she teaches in church and
is a trained lay preacher. Born in Kingston, Jamaica she has spent equal number
of years living alternatively in Jamaica and the United Kingdom. She’s won the
hearts of daughters, grandsons and nieces and several ‘adopteds’ with her
hearty home cooked meals, delicately spiced and served up with healthy doses of
the value of Christian living. She is particularly pleased to have been
‘mother’ to a very famous singing family, the Jackson Five.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Publishing Made EZ is an excellent resource for anyone who
wants to publish his book without spending hundreds or even thousands. All that
is required is a "wee" bit of patience and a "wee" bit of
Microsoft Word knowledge. If you have written a book, you have far more than a
"wee" bit of what you need to use this book and do it yourself.
Publishing Made EZ makes the whole process seamless and even fun.

I was very impressed with the step-by-step instructions and
photographs that were easy to follow. The writing style was straightforward
without the usual technical jargon. I was so pleasantly surprised, in fact, after
reading Publishing Made EZ that I am going to use Create Space for my new YA
fantasy book. I had planned on using the POD publisher that had published my
two previous books, but with this great resource, I can publish Seventh
Dimension – The Door far more quickly and save thousands. The only real cost is
for an ISBN number, which is minimal.

The number one reason why authors pay someone else to do
publishing and marketing for them is because they don’t know how or don't have
time. With Publishing Made EZ, YOU CAN DO IT YOURSELF. I lead a large network
of authors and am glad to know about this book.

No matter which publishing company you use, just the
information to put your book in ready-to-publish format is awesome. As usual,
anything is easy once someone shows you. I am not technically inclined and tend
to become easily frustrated. This book made EVERYTHING SURPRISINGLY SEAMLESS! I
highly recommend Publishing Made EZ.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

The first time I read about Kindle
Direct Publishing, also known as KDP, I couldn’t see the value of it. Why would
I want to give away a Kindle book for up to five days every three months and be
forced to yank it off all other distribution sites, including Smashwords?

I had
three ebooks at that time being sold through Smashwords, and with their premium
distribution, my books were available to Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and other websites I learned
about later. I didn’t understand the fine print about the KDP Loan Option, which
sounded like a lot of hype about nothing, and I didn’t know anyone who was
enrolled. I wrote off KDP thinking it was
too much trouble to implement and I would be wasting my time.

For those
who don’t know me, I lead the John 3:16 Marketing Network, a network of over
two hundred Christian authors. Our chief focus is to help Christian authors
launch their books when published on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. One of the most
valuable aspects of belonging to the network is the sharing of information. In January
2012, we had a new member, Bob Saffrin,
who emailed me about his success with a Kindle book, Moses –Steps to a Life of Faith, in the KDP Select Program. After offering
it for one day free, he had almost four thousand ebooks “sold” and topped the
charts in all the nonfiction subcategories.

In over
of year of launching books, we had never had anywhere close to that number of
books sold in one day—and we are a network that launches books. Of course, Mr.
Saffrin’s ebook was free, so my next question was, besides the great exposure he
had received—four thousand books loaded on Kindles in the United States and
Canada and even other countries sounded awesome—would those downloads translate
into royalties? Or was if a fluke? Many people had bought Kindles for Christmas
and were looking for cheap ebooks to load on their new “toy.”

I started
paying attention to KDP Select through other authors in the John 3:16 Marketing
Network. Some were willing to share their numbers. Martin Roth, an Australian author
of international thrillers, emailed me about his success with Kindle Direct
Publishing. He, too, had “sold” thousands of ebooks with KDP. Now I had
validation that it wasn’t just nonfiction books that were doing well with KDP
but fiction books also; and it couldn’t have been just an after-Christmas rush to upload new ebooks on
new Kindles. This was for real.

I decided
to give KDP a try—which required a lot of effort on my part. Mr. Roth warned me
that it was important to make sure you removed your ebook from all distribution
sites except Amazon. Your book had to be exclusive to Amazon. My first thought
was, how would they know anyway?

Don’t be
fooled—Amazon will find your ebook on other websites and contact you to remove
it. They are serious about this. When Amazon says exclusivity, they mean it. I waited
a couple of months before enrolling my book in the program to ensure it was
removed from all the websites I knew about, and Amazon found more later and
alerted me.

My book Children of Dreams is an adoption
memoir, and that was the first book I put into the Kindle Direct Publishing
Program. In the meantime, some of our John 3:16 Authors had compiled a list of FREE
websites where you could promote or advertise your ebook the days it was free
on Amazon. I went through that list to maximize my book’s exposure.

For two
days, over Mother’s Day weekend, I offered Children
of Dreams for free on Kindle. By the end of the weekend, I had almost
17,000 ebooks downloaded and it hit number eleven out of all free books on
Amazon.

I was ecstatic
to have that many books downloaded on Kindles all over the world. In comparison
to the number of ebooks I had sold previously, it was astounding. The question
then became, how can I make money with this?

Since
that weekend, I have offered my other ebooks for free through Kindle Direct
Publishing. For the month of July, I received a royalty payment from Amazon for
$350. Another author in the John 3:16 Marketing Network made $4,000 last month through
Kindle Direct Publishing. The numbers vary widely, but you can make money using
KDP. I am delighted that even I can make a few dollars to pay a bill, and the
most important thing is, I didn’t spend a dime hiring a publicist or a marketing
firm—and, to be honest, they will soon exhaust anyone’s financial resources and
may not sell you a single book. I am speaking from personal experience.

What about the exclusivity requirement?
That means my book can’t be sold anywhere else.

Here are my thoughts: If it bothers you,
then don’t do it. Amazon has come up with a marketing method that works. It’s a
win-win for Amazon and the author. You have a choice, and as long as authors
have that choice, I see nothing wrong with it. Amazon is in business and they
are good at it. Looking at their growth and market share, they are probably the
best. The challenge is for another company to come up with a better “KDP Select
Program” than Amazon’s.

Here are some suggestions for anyone who
is listening: Implement a similar program
that doesn’t require exclusivity. Challenge Amazon. Become a bigger player by
offering authors more. What about an 80 percent royalty instead of 75 on books
priced at $2.99 or more? What about a 50 percent royalty on books that are only
99 cents? What about allowing us to make our books free whenever we want—ten
days a month instead of five?

Just like a lover woos his mistress, you’ve
got to convince me to give up KDP Select in its current form and prove that you
can offer me something better.

The royalty payments I have received from
Smashwords pale in comparison to what I have earned with Amazon, even with Smashwords’
premium distribution. In fact, the $65 in my Smashwords account isn’t enough to
deposit into my bank account based on their minimum requirement for direct
deposit.

Until another company convinces me
otherwise, I will stick with Kindle Direct Publishing, despite its exclusivity.
Amazon needs more competition from other companies to entice them to adjust their
paradigm. As long as KDP continues to put more money in authors’ pockets, including
Smashwords, Amazon won't have any inclination to “rock the boat” and change it.

In a couple of months, I will be
releasing my new YA novel, Seventh
Dimension – The Door, and I plan on enrolling it into the KDP Select Program.
One thing I want to stress, however, is you still need to promote your book.
Laziness in promotion won’t sell books. KDP Select will require effort in terms
of letting websites and others know when your Kindle book is free. Then you
have the opportunity to make some money after the free promotion is over. It’s
the uptake in sales following the free promotions that rings up that royalty
check. Amazon also pays every month through direct deposit into authors’ bank
accounts if it’s set up that way. My question is, why would anyone not want to do
it?